From The Olympian of Olympia, Wash. The Footwear Fallacy posits that one must have a change of shoes for every possible activity. As with all fallacies, it rests on a certain reasonable logic. Climbing boots such as the type worn…
Gear
Shelter? I got your shelter
by tmangan • April 7, 2006 • 2 Comments
My fool’s errand to become a lightweight backpacker is doing wonderful things for my G.A.D. (Gear Acquisition Disorder). I bought a 5×8 tarp several weeks back, immediately realized it was way too small for riding out a High Sierra deluge,…
An intro to GPS
by tmangan • March 6, 2006 • 1 Comment
This Boston Globe story has a nice introduction to GPS for hikers. A map and compass may be so yesterday, but Ouellette and O’Bannon advise hikers never to rely exclusively on their GPS units. For starters, human error can be…
Altimeter avoidance
by tmangan • March 6, 2006 • 1 Comment
This post at alt.rec.hiking oughta cool your ardor for getting one of those wristwatch-sized doohickies to reveal your altitutde. Seems they require so much fiddling to get an accurate reading that you’d be better off just taking a deep breath…
An intriguing stove idea
by tmangan • March 2, 2006 • 5 Comments
Got an e-mail yesterday from the proprietor of Spenton.net, who is selling these “WoodGas” camp stoves that raise interesting possibilities for folks camping in areas where there’s lots of dry wood lying around. The stove is a bit heavy at…
For all your cutlery needs
by tmangan • February 21, 2006 • 0 Comments
Elinemerchandising is an online retailer run by a Bay Area entrepreneur who specializes in things with sharp edges: If you’re never content with a mere Swiss army knife, you can always buy yourself a cavalry sword. The guy also has…
Acronym of the day
by tmangan • February 17, 2006 • 2 Comments
G.A.D.: Gear Aquisition Disorder. Symptoms: owning multiple examples of a single type of gear. If you have more than three backpacks or four pairs of ourtdoor-related footwear, or tend to stop by REI because it’s, you know, on the way,…
Land of the impulse buys
by tmangan • February 14, 2006 • 0 Comments
Steepandcheep.com has a new deal every 24 hours. Each product has a discussion thread for folks to weigh the merits of the doo-dad in question. It has an RSS feed so you can check it every day. Worth a look…
More on hiking poles
by tmangan • February 13, 2006 • 3 Comments
Here’s another article on the benefits of hiking with a pair of poles. It covers all the basics at the beginning but gets into an area we don’t hear much about in the U.S.: Nordic walking, which is all the…